Is BPC-157 worth injecting for tendon pain if you're lifting weights?

You've seen the headlines about an FDA panel voting for BPC-157, and you may know someone injecting it for a sore elbow or shoulder. I look at what the FDA did this summer, every human study I could find, and my own BPC-157 experiment from a few years ago. Then I share what helps stubborn tendon pain, no injection required.

You'll learn:

• What the FDA panel voted on in July, and which use it reviewed
• How many people BPC-157 has been tested on, and for how long
• Lessons from my own 6-week BPC-157 experiment on my shoulder
• A 12-week elastic band program from a tennis elbow trial
• 3 questions to ask before you buy any peptide or supplement

If you're about to order peptides for a sore elbow, shoulder, or hip, hit play.

Join Eat More Lift Heavy to keep lifting around a sore joint with a training program matched to your schedule and equipment, plus 26 weeks of coaching. https://eatmoreliftheavy.com

Timestamps:

0:00 - BPC-157 and the peptide headlines
3:48 - The FDA timeline and the July panel vote
7:52 - Training, food, and time for a sore joint
10:16 - Who voted yes and who's using BPC-157
11:57 - Human studies, rat studies, and safety
16:39 - My BPC-157 shoulder experiment
19:57 - Tendon pain after 40 and progressive loading
25:51 - How to judge any peptide claim
27:17 - Bonus: cortisone shots for tennis elbow

Episode Resources:

• Episode 255: my first BPC-157 experiment for shoulder recovery
• Episode 492: tissue capacity and training through pain (Dr. Tom Walters)

Corrections. A few things I misspoke on air:

• I said it's "technically true" that the FDA approved these peptides, but the panel only "recommended" BPC-157 for compounding. The FDA hasn't approved it or published a rule.
• I said ulcerative colitis is "like" inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which is a different condition.
• JAMA is the Journal of the American Medical Association

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Educational content only, not medical advice.

Are you getting weaker because of age, or because you started “training your age”? And how hard can you still push before recovery starts working against you?

David Frost is 73, a retired Navy captain, adjunct professor, endurance athlete, and writer on load management and recovery. He joins me to challenge the idea that getting older means automatically dialing back your training.

We cover sarcopenia, muscle building, connective-tissue recovery, sleep, full-body strength training, HRV, heart-rate recovery, and why comparing yourself to your younger self can sabotage progress. David also shares the coronary calcium wake-up call that changed how he balances hard training with longevity.

You’ll learn how to use readiness, recovery, and evidence-based training to keep lifting weights safely while protecting your long-term health.

Join Eat More Lift Heavy to build muscle, lose 10-20 lbs of fat, and learn what works for your body, 1 week at a time. Eat more and lift heavy with confidence.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Why aging doesn't mean backing off
5:26 – Sarcopenia and the recovery equation
13:08 – Starting strength training at sixty
21:08 – Building a longer strong span
23:32 – David's coronary calcium wake-up call
32:47 – Whole-body training and recovery timing
36:34 – Using HRV without overtrusting wearables
41:19 – Walking, sleep, and better recovery

Episode resources:

• Website: wellpastforty.org
• Instagram: @davidemersonfrost

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Belly fat after 40 feels like a curse of age and hormones, doesn't it?

In this episode, I dismantle the viral cortisol story and compare it to what research actually supports. You've seen the cortisol cocktails, the adaptogens, and the advice to quit coffee and skip hard workouts. I explain why supplements and “detox” trends miss the real movers of belly fat, then lay out the behaviors that reliably reduce visceral fat over time.

You'll learn:

• Why belly fat is not spot-reducible and what actually drives your waistline
• Subcutaneous fat vs. visceral fat and why visceral fat matters for health risk
• What cortisol does in the body and why it is not a toxin
• How Cushing syndrome fueled the “cortisol belly” origin story (but likely doesn't apply to you)
• What correlational studies show about cortisol and waist size
• Why lowering cortisol with ashwagandha does not translate to meaningful fat loss
• Why “adrenal fatigue,” cortisol cocktails, and drinking less coffee do not hold up to evidence
• What changes during perimenopause and menopause and why visceral fat can increase as estrogen falls
• How stress affects belly fat through sleep, food intake, alcohol, and skipped training
• The 4 part plan to reduce belly fat

Get 20% off your first custom protein blend at True Nutrition with code WITSANDWEIGHTS. You pick the protein, flavor, sweetener, and boosts, and everything is third-party lab tested and first-party verified, so hitting your protein while you lose fat gets a lot easier. Go to:
https://truenutrition.com/witsandweights

Timestamps:

0:00 - Cortisol belly and the TikTok detox trend
3:19 - Belly fat and total body fat
7:27 - Protein to keep muscle while you lose fat
9:03 - What cortisol does (plus Cushing's syndrome)
11:36 - Cortisol and belly fat research
15:43 - Cortisol cocktails, coffee, and hard workouts
17:53 - Belly fat after 40 and the menopause transition
20:35 - Stress, sleep, and eating habits
21:41 - 4 basics for losing belly fat
24:58 - Bonus: weekly habit for deep belly fat

Episode Resources:

• Episode 509 on what to track instead of weight loss
• Episode 501 on what perimenopause does and doesn't do to your weight
• Episode 506 on sleep
• Episode 507 on carbs and menopause

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Is your metabolism damaged from decades of dieting?

Jenny was sure her body was broken. She started with cabbage soup in 7th grade, and by her late 40s, Atkins and keto had stopped working for her.

(She also tried non-fat foods, the Mediterranean diet, Weight Watchers, Noom, South Beach, intermittent fasting, and OMAD. No surprise, but none of them worked long term.)

I'm sharing Jenny's own voice messages on how she lost 13 pounds of body fat in about 6 months, why the 10 pounds she lost with a previous coach came back within 2 months, and the tracking mistake that finally made one of our lessons click for her.

👉 Learn about our 12-Week Dialed In Fall Challenge starting this Monday:
https://witsandweights.com/challenge

You'll learn:

• Why restrictive diets become hard to sustain with adult life
• The fear of a broken metabolism and the appeal of GLP-1 drugs
• What research shows about metabolic adaptation, weight cycling, and age
• The real cost of yo-yo dieting as lost muscle and “skinny fat” body composition
• The ONE tracking mistake that shrinks your calorie deficit without you noticing
• How to use your own data as evidence
• Strength training benefits beyond the scale like stairs, mobility, and comfort
• Handling travel, promotions, stress, and imperfect weeks without overcorrecting

If you want fat loss over 40 to stick this time, hit play!

Join our 12-Week Dialed In Fall Challenge, where you'll follow the same exact process as Jenny, with 3 specific goals scored against your own starting point to get you successfully through the holidays so you don't have to "start over" in January. The winner gets 3 months of free coaching and a 2-on-1 private call with me and Coach Carol. It starts Monday, October 12.
https://witsandweights.com/challenge

Timestamps:

0:00 - Why Jenny thought her body was broken
3:20 - Dieting since 7th grade
7:30 - Can decades of dieting damage your metabolism?
10:12 - How she used her own data
11:32 - Why her last coach's results didn't last
14:00 - The tracking lesson that finally clicked
16:24 - Eating more and the problem with "trust the process"
20:20 - Wins that don't show up on the scale
25:59 - Work travel, a promotion, and two puppies
30:20 - Building skills you keep after coaching
31:33 - Jenny's advice if you think your body is broken

Episode Resources:

• Join our 12-week challenge that uses the exact same approach Jenny followed: https://witsandweights.com/challenge
• Episode 509, on why weight loss challenges fade once the prize is gone
• Episode 499, on the skills that keep your results going after a program ends
• Episode 501, on menopause weight gain

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

We evaluate weight loss challenges and why they can make you "win" on the scale while losing muscle, bone, and momentum toward your true goal of improving how you look and feel.

Learn what the research says about rebounds after incentives end and the 3 metrics to track instead for sustainable fat loss over 40, including:

• How challenges can reward extreme dieting and too much cardio while devaluing lifting
• What studies show about lean mass and bone loss despite similar weight loss
• What financial incentive research finds once prizes and payments stop
• Why workplace wellness challenges often fail to move long-term health outcomes
• What the Biggest Loser follow-up does and does not prove about metabolism
• How to set goals against your own baseline for better maintenance
• What to track instead and what improves outcomes the most

If you want your next challenge to leave you leaner and stronger instead of just lighter, hit play.

Join our 12-Week Dialed In Fall Challenge, 12 weeks of Dialed In coaching inside Eat More Lift Heavy for adults over 40, with 3 goals scored against your own starting point through the holidays. It starts Monday, October 12, and the winner gets 3 months of free coaching plus a private call with me and Carol:
https://witsandweights.com/challenge

Timestamps:

0:00 - Weight loss challenges and what they measure
4:23 - What the scale is actually measuring
6:07 - Cardio, lifting, and the TEMPO diet trial
8:56 - The better way to score your results
12:37 - What happens after the incentives end
16:28 - The Biggest Loser follow-up
19:00 - What to measure instead of weight loss
26:55 - Bonus: one thing before your next fat loss phase to increase your chances of maintaining results long-term

Episode Resources:

• Join the 12-Week Dialed In Fall Challenge

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Why does bad nutrition advice sound so convincing, and how do you know who to trust?

Registered dietitian Kylee Van Horn and journalist and elite ultrarunner Zoë Rom, hosts of Your Diet Sucks podcast, join me to expose how nutrition and fitness claims get distorted from actual research into confident prescriptions.

We break down why mechanisms and individual studies aren’t enough, how social media rewards certainty over nuance, and why women’s fitness and hormone health have become especially vulnerable to questionable claims around menopause, cycle syncing, detoxes, testing, and supplement stacks.

We also cover protein and muscle building, why “more” isn’t automatically better, how chronic underfueling can distort your perception of what your body needs, and why getting the basics of nutrition, fueling, and lifting weights right matters more than chasing optimization.

Join Eat More Lift Heavy to build muscle, lose 10-20 lbs of fat, and learn what works for your body, 1 week at a time. Eat more and lift heavy with confidence.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Why convincing nutrition advice fails
2:56 - Social media rewards the wrong information
9:35 - When scientific mechanisms mislead you
13:35 - How to identify trustworthy experts
19:35 - Why women’s nutrition became big business
25:35 - Menopause, metabolism, and body composition
35:05 - Cycle syncing and supplement stacks
41:35 - Protein optimization misses the basics
47:35 - Underfueling and learning your body

Episode resources:

• Podcast: Your Diet Sucks
• Website: yourdietsuckspodcast.com
• Instagram: @yourdietsuckspod

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

It turns out that carb cycling does NOT improve fat loss or your metabolism. But does it have other benefits?

You've heard you should load carbs on lifting days and cut them on rest days, especially after 40. Where did this idea come from?

I'm breaking down the one study that comes closest to testing carb cycling and what happened when a second group of researchers reanalyzed the data. You'll also hear why the insulin and fat storage argument doesn't hold up, what one study found about insulin sensitivity after menopause, and the number of hard sets that determines whether carbs before training do anything for you.

• Where carb cycling comes from and why it spread beyond bodybuilding
• The Campbell 2020 refeed study (and later reanalysis)
• Why insulin and “storage hormone” arguments do not predict fat loss under matched calories
• What leptin and metabolic flexibility claims get (partially) right
• What research suggests about menopause, insulin sensitivity, and body fat as the driver
• How to set weekly calories, daily protein, and fiber before worrying about carb timing
• When pre-workout carbs matter most, and fed vs. fasted training
• Why underfueling and low-carb patterns can backfire for recovery and your relationship with food

If you want to stop earning your carbs and put them where your week needs them, hit play.

Ask me a question for the podcast!

Get the free Refeeds and Diet Breaks Guide, so you know when a structured high day is worth running and when it just makes your week harder, built for adults over 40 who lift:
https://witsandweights.com/free

Timestamps:

0:00 - 4 carb questions from the community
3:14 - Where carb cycling came from
7:22 - The refeed study and later reanalysis
11:59 - Insulin, storage, and a metabolic ward
13:16 - Leptin and fat-burning arguments
15:52 - Can a structured high-carb day be worth it?
17:37 - Does insulin sensitivity drop at menopause?
20:31 - Carb cycling in your actual week
22:42 - Complex carbs on lifting days
24:32 - Eating before and after you lift
27:07 - Bonus: hard sets and carbs before training

Episode Resources:

• Send me your question and get a direct reply, plus a shout-out on the show if you want one
• Try Fitness Lab, my AI coaching app, with 20% off exclusive to podcast listeners

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏

Do you actually need 8 hours of sleep to build muscle after 40?

We put that claim under the microscope and separate what sleep research actually shows from what fitness culture spreads online.

Learn about the simple rules that protect your strength training, fat loss, and daily energy even when your night falls a bit short:

• Where the 7+ hours of sleep guideline comes from and what it does and does not cover
• The effect of sleep restriction on a calorie deficit, including fat loss vs fat-free (lean / muscle) mass loss
• Why “short sleep kills your gains” is not supported by direct lifting trials, and what mechanistic data suggests instead
• How cutting sleep often affects your sedentary time more than gym performance
• Why sleep regularity can matter more than duration for long-term health outcomes
• Wow to use wearable data without letting sleep scores drive stress and bad decisions
• 3 practical rules for bad sleep days
• The simple movement targets that offer big returns and 2 quick strategies to offset extra sitting (which is connected to sleep)

If you want to stop treating sleep as the thing you have to fix before anything else works, hit play.

Try Fitness Lab, the AI coaching app that reads your data, coaches you on your patterns, and keeps you consistent for adults over 40 who want to lose fat and build strength. Get a free custom fat loss and muscle building plan before you buy anything.

Wits & Weights is the evidence-based podcast for strength training over 40, muscle and longevity, body recomposition, fat loss over 40, and healthy aging. Hosted by Philip Pape, creator of Eat More Lift Heavy and Fitness Lab.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Why you skip the gym after a bad night
3:31 - Where "8 hours of sleep" came from
6:41 - What we know about lifters on short sleep
7:26 - 5 nights of 4 hours in bed
8:27 - 6 weeks of less sleep
10:16 - Where the appetite research disagrees
11:10 - Sleep vs. strength training
13:11 - Rule 1: Never let a bad night be the excuse
14:34 - Rule 2: Sleep regularity vs. hours in bed
16:17 - Rule 3: What your ring is bad at measuring
17:50 - The biggest single sleep lever
18:36 - Steps, lifting, and mortality
19:24 - Sleep, food, and movement

💪 Join Eat More Lift Heavy - a 26-week evidence-based strength training for men and women over 40 and fat loss program to build muscle after 40, lose fat, and maintain your results (even in perimenopause and menopause)

📱 Get Fitness Lab - AI-powered coaching app for strength training after 40, body recomposition, and evidence-based nutrition. Daily coaching that adjusts to your energy, recovery, and schedule. No calorie counting, no guesswork.

👥 Join our Facebook community - Build muscle after 40, improve body composition, and lose fat with evidence-based nutrition. Support for lifting weights, hypertrophy, fat loss, and hormones.

👋 Ask a question or find Philip Pape (strength training & fat loss nutrition coach) on Instagram & thanks for making us one of the best fat loss podcasts for men & women over 40! 🙏